Tales of the Mermen - The Fated Meeting
by LaceRose
Summary: Rei is a new student in a new school. He becomes the target of bullies, and thought life wasn't worth the hassle of living. After a fated meeting with some mermen, he might just think otherwise, as he's swept into another world which he never imagined existed.
1. Chapter 1

1st Chapter

The young spectacled teenager stood at the front of the class. All eyes were on him. He felt nervous, and bit his lip before he began to speak. "Uh...my name...my name is...Ryuugazaki Rei! Yoroshiku!" He shouted out nervously, and immediately regretted it as the class he was in erupted into laughter. Rei stood there, and blushed. "Omg, he has a girl's name!" One girl said to her friend, and the whole class laughed again.

"Now, now. He's new, and cute, so be nice to him, okay?" The teacher finally stepped in, and the class went somewhat silent. "Now, go and take a seat at the back, okay?" The female teacher said, and with his gaze on the floor, he trudged to the seat where the teacher had directed him to seat. He didn't see the foot that a male student had stuck out to trip him, and he fell over, which caused the class to giggle.

"Come on, up you get." A voice spoke, and a hand was put out, to help him up. He greatefully took hold of the hand, and stood up. "Th..Thank you-" He was cut off, as his foot was stomped on. He grimaced in pain and stared at the person who had stood on his foot. It was the person who had offered to help him to his feet. "What's going on over there?" The teacher asked. "Oh, nothing, Ma'am. Just helping the new guy to his feet." The guy said, and the teacher turned her back to the class as she began writing on the blackboard.

As soon as he back was turned, the male student smirked evilly at Rei. "Guess what, four-eyes? You're gonna be our new class gopher." He said, and Rei wished he had a hole he crawl into and hide. He left his other school because of kids like this one. He couldn't believe his rotten luck, getting picked on, not even five minutes into his first class. He wondered if he had 'Class Gopher' written on his forehead.

"Sit down, Gopher. We'll 'talk' after class." The student said, and sat down. Rei felt like jelly, and almost oozed into his seat. The way that kid said 'talk' made him feel very uneasy.

Rei ran as fast as he could to where he was told to go. His arms were full with bread and drinks. His new bullies had wasted no time in ordering him around, and had given him an order to go and get them bread and drinks in 5 minutes or else. He accidentally dropped one of the drinks. "Crap." He cursed, and picked it up, and continued on to the oval, where the couple of other teens were waiting. Shintaro, the lead thug, looked at his watch as Rei handed over the bread and drinks.

"Damn, you're fast. 4.58 seconds. Our old gopher was always slow, so we had to beat him up a lot. Glad to see we won't have to get our hands dirty today." Shintaro said, and opened his bread and took a bite. Rei fidgeted nervously. "So...I can go now, right?" He asked, and Shintaro dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Taking a breath of relief, Rei began walking away, when he heard one of the bullies swear profanities. "Shit! That little bastard!" Rei turned around, and saw the bullies glaring at him, as one of them had opened a can of soda, which had fizzed all over him.

'Oh no! The one that fell to the ground!' Rei thought, and as Shintaro approached him, he knew that he was in for it. "Yo, man. Ya did that on purpose, didn't ya?" He said, and Rei never had a chance to reply, before Shintaro had grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him in close. "Our old gopher ran off to another school. I'm going to show you why." He said, before he roughly punched Rei in the stomach.

Rei fell to his knees, clutching his stomach as he coughed from the pain. Grabbing Rei by the hair, Shintaro pulled back Rei's head so he could stare cruelly into his eyes. He was about to punch Rei in the face when one of the other bullies stopped him. "Not the face, dude. Not where the teacher can see." He said, and Shintaro stopped, and instead grabbed the can of soft drink, and poured it over Rei's head.

Rei, still clutching his stomach in pain, felt tears prick at his eyes. Shintaro, pleased with his work, knealt down beside Rei. "I went easy on you this time. If you try anything like that again, I'll put your ass in the damn hospital." He said, before he stood up and walked away with his friends, leaving Rei there, who's body shook as he sobbed.

On the other side of the oval, two pinkish-colored eyes looked on. The blonde boy had a determined look on his face, and went to walk over when an emotionless voice called out to him, "Don't get involved, Nagisa." The blonde boy sighed, and after one last look at the beaten boy, he walked off in the other direction.

Rei wiped at his eyes, and for some reason, he felt like he was being watched. He looked all around, but there was no one there. He slowly got to his feet, and after a while of staring into nothingness, he walked back, in time for class. Upon entering the class, the teacher stared at him. "What on earth happened to you?" She said, referring to his dishevelled state. He cast a quick glance at Shintaro and his friends. "I was playing football with friends." He lied, and he went and sat down in his seat.

He knew that if he told the truth, he would be beat way worse than today, so he did the only logical thing, and he lied. "Good." Shintaro said, and Rei froze in his seat. "At least you're not dumb enough to go and tell on us."

Rei sighed, and took down notes as the class went on, and finally, school was over for the day. He walked out of class, and down the hall, his pace slow, almost like a zombie. He couldn't believe it. He had left his other school because he was bullied severely, and now it looks like it was happening all over again. He left the school grounds and went home. It was dark by the time he got home. His mother looked at him. "Not again!" She screeched.

"Gomen." Rei apologised, on the verge of tears. "You realize WHY we moved, right? Because of the bullies! Because of the endless torn clothes, black eyes, and all the rest!" She put her hands on her hips. "What did you do to annoy them THIS time!?" She shouted, and he gasped in shock.

"You think...You think it was my fault?" He asked, as tears fell from his eyes. "Well, who's is it? Huh!? You always come home with filthy clothes, and all bloodied, and who has to always take care of it? Yeah, I'll tell you who! ME!" Rei's mother went on, and he crouched into a ball, with his hands over his ears.

She didn't stop. "You think I'm going to put up with it this time, but I'm not. I'm over looking after a bastard that isn't even my own son!" She roared and Rei screamed out in agony, before he ran out of the house. "Good, get out! Go and die somewhere, like your good for nothing son-of-a-bitch FATHER!" She screamed out the door, as he ran down the street in tears.

He didn't know where he was running to, he only knew he had to get away, get far away from here, and from this place. When he finally took in his surroundings, he found out that he was in the school he had just transferred to. Great, the place where the mess started.

Since the school was empty, it felt somewhat peaceful, and he decided to take a look around. He went through the hallways, and he remembered that the school supposedly had a pool, located on the roof. He went there, up numerous flights of stairs. The pool looked serene, unlike his emotions, which were all over the place.

He stared at the pool, which was illuminted by the moonlight. He couldn't swim. Ever since he was a child, he never was able to. Every other sport came to him naturally, but swimming was the one sport which always seemed to be out of his reach. He bit his lip as he remembered how Shintaro and his friends has taken pleasure when they bullied him, humiliated him. Tears fell from his eyes as he heard his mother's hateful words over and over again in his mind, and then...it all became so clear to him. So very clear.

He didn't belong in this world, there was no place for him. He loosened his tie, and set it on the small coach's chair which was beside the pool. Taking off his shoes, he stood at the poolside. "Goodbye." He whispered, and closed his eyes, before he threw himself in the pool. He felt the water around him, surrounding him. His legs struggled to find solid ground, but found none. He would die here tonight, and strangely enough, Rei was at peace with it.

He struggled for breath, and finally, when he couldn't hold his breath any longer, his mouth opened, and he gasped underwater, water filling his mouth, into his lungs. As the water continued to drown him, Rei felt his eyes drooping, and he felt his body go limp as he ceased to struggle and gave in to the inevitable.

As his eyes were closing, he saw the faint glint of something as it darted past him. He felt the brush of something against his back. ' _A shark? Is there a shark in here_?' He faintly wondered, and was startled as he saw a face pop up in front of him. It was a boy, roughly his age. He had blonde hair, which drifted about under the water. The boy smiled at him, and his pinkish-colored eyes locked with Rei's. Rei felt himself slipping further into unconsciousness, when the boy placed his lips over Rei's. The were a million thoughts that were drifting through Rei's mind, but one thought stood out among the rest.

' _My first kiss. My first was with a boy. And I...kind of like it_.'

5 Minutes Previously...

"Ah, this feels good." A blonde boy stretched out in the pool. "Keep it quiet, Nagisa. The janitor might hear you." A boy with short, black hair spoke. "Oh, don't be such a downer, Haru-chan." The blonde boy, Nagisa replied, which caused the boy with dark hair, Haruka, to sigh. "How many times have I told you not to call me-" Haruka was cut off by the third boy, Makoto. "Did you guys hear that?" Makoto, the boy with sandy brown hair and pale green eyes looked up, from the poolside.

"Hear what, there's no one there-" Nagisa called out, when all of a sudden, the door had been swung open, and a tall boy with blue hair and glasses walked in. "Quick, hide!" Haruka whispered, and Nagisa swam to the bottom of the pool, Haruka and Makoto doing the same. Thankfully, the boy didn't seem to notice any of them.

All the boys wondered what this strange boy was up to, and Makoto eeped when the boy had thrown himself in the pool. "What if he spots Nagisa, what if he...wait, what's he doing?" Makoto's eyes widened when it became clear to them what the boy was trying to do. "He's trying to kill himself?" Makoto stared on, in shock. Haruka's expression darkened slightly. "That idiot." Haruka sighed, referring to their friend Nagisa, who swam up to the drowning boy, and did something unbelievable. "Is that...is he kissing him!?" Makoto screeched.

Haruka only shook his head in disbelief. "That idiot."

Rei was dreaming of a cute blonde boy kissing him, when his eyes opened slightly. His lungs burned, and he remembered what he had tried to do. "Am..I dead?" He spoke, as his eyes began to focus better. A few centimetres away from his face, curious pinkish-colored eyes blinked. It was the blonde boy from the pool. Had he been saved? ' _Didn't he kiss me_?' Rei wondered. "Are you okay? You took in a lot of water." The blonde boy spoke.

"I... think so." Rei slowly tried standing up. He was a little wobbly, so he rested on the railing of the fence. "Was it you who..." Rei's voice trailed off, as he got a full look at the boys. There were 3 of them. They were all staring at him, and their tails were flapping against the cement of the poolside. ' _Wait. A. Minute_.' Rei's eyes widened. ' _TAILS!? How can they possibly have TAILS!? What the hell is going ON here_!?'

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anything here

Chapter 2

Rei couldn't believe what he was seeing. ' _Maybe I've taken in too much water, or maybe...maybe I'm dead_.' Rei thought as he tried to find the words to describe what he was experiencing. "Mer...Mermaids...are in the school pool." He uttered, and Nagisa giggled. "That's mer _men_." Nagisa pointed out, and Haruka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mermaids don't exist, it's all fairytale-" Rei reasoned, but Makoto cut in. "Mer _men_. And yes, we do exist. Um, Haruka?" Makoto looked at their blank faced friend.

"It was a bad idea to save him, Nagisa. Now he knows our secret." Haruka sighed, and faced Rei. "You. Come here. Let me drown you again. You won't feel it, I swear." He said, and Rei eeped and edged away from the three. "Cut it out, Haru-chan! You're scaring him!" Nagisa said, and flapped his pink tail. Haruka merely flapped his own blue tail in annoyance. Nagisa faced Rei again. "What's your name?" He asked Rei, who eyed them warily.

"R..Ryuugazaki Rei." Rei replied, and Nagisa smiled widely. "Rei-chan! I promise, we're not bad mermen, we won't hurt you." The blonde boy said, and Makoto also agreed, and Haruka finally agreed, but only after Nagisa and Makoto pleaded with him. "Alright, fine." Haruka begrundingly agreed, and Nagisa beckoned Rei over. "I guess...introductions are in order." He guestured to his mermen friends. "This is Tachibana Makoto, and this is Nanase Haruka. I'm Hazuki Nagisa." Nagisa introduced them all, smiling.

"Er, um...it's a pleasure to um, meet you." Rei said, a nervous tone in his voice. "Come and sit with us. We don't bite." Makoto urged the nervous teen to sit with them, and he slowly inched forward, and sat down in a seat offered to him by the boys. "I saw you earlier. You were being bullied by that codfish Shintaro." Nagisa said, with an angry pout on his face. Rei had an unusual thought. "Is Shintaro like you?" He asked, causing both Makoto and Nagisa to laugh.

"No, thank god. He's just a regular human, and a horrible one at that." Makoto said, and faced Rei. "You don't have to put up with it, you know. Inform the teacher. It's not right for him to bully people." He said, and Rei shook his head. "If I did that, he would only bully me more." Rei spoke, with a sad face.

"Well, what about your parents? Can't you tell them?" Nagisa asked, and Rei froze. Remembering what his mother had said to him earlier, he bit his lip. "That's impossible." Rei said, his tone relaying just how stressed he was on the subject. "Why? Every parent loves their child, I'm sure yours-" Nagisa started, but Rei interrupted. "That isn't always the case. At least, not in my situation."

Nagisa made to say something else, but Haruka shook his head, and indiction that the blonde boy should drop it. "So, what about you? Okay, you're uh, mermen, right? Like, from the sea?" Rei asked, and this time, it was Haruka who began to talk. "Yes. We're all from the sea. Our kingdoms were all attacked, and we only barely managed to escape." The blue eyed boy replied.

"Kingdoms? Are you royalty or something?" Rei asked, and Makoto nodded. "Mhm! We're all princes of our own regions. And as Haruka pointed out, our kingdoms did come under attack. It was due to the efforts of our royal soldiers that we could get away. We were sent to live on land." Makoto informed the blue haired boy.

"But how can you even live on land? You have tails." Rei pointed out, and Makoto swished his pale, jade-green tail from side to side. "Well, when we're on land, we get feet to walk with. However, if we get our whole body wet, our tail comes back. But, we just have to wait to become dry again, and we once again get our legs back." Makoto pointed out, and right then, Rei took in an amazing sight, as the three boys' scaley tails began to vanish, and legs started to appear!

"S..Sugoi!" Rei gasped out, in complete awe of what he was witnessing. "I know, right?" Nagisa grinned, and stood to his feet. All three boys were completely naked, and began pulling on their clothes, which they had taken off before they had their nightly swim. "It's getting late." Haruka pointed out, and Nagisa grabbed hold of Rei's hand.

"Rei-chan, wanna walk home with me?" He asked. Rei ignored the 'chan' added to his name, and shook his head. "Home? I'm not even sure if I have a 'home' to go to." Rei sighed, and raked a hand through his blue hair. Nagisa bit his lip with concern, but then he snapped his fingers. "I know! What if you stay the night at Haru-chan's place?" He said, with caused him a pout from Haruka.

"I...don't know about that." Rei said, unsure of the situation. He had only just met these boys, these mermen. They seemed nice enough, but then again, so did his mother, and she was as two-faced as a person could get. He didn't know whether or not to trust them. Haruka folded his arms in annoyance. "I didn't say he could stay at my place." He said, with a stone-like tone of voice. Nagisa faced Haruka and turned on his puppy dog eyes. "But, he has no where to go. He's all alone." Nagisa said, and quivered his lower lip as if he was going to cry, and with a frustrated sigh, Haruka gave in. "Oh, fine!" Haruka huffed, and Nagisa clapped like a happy seal.

Rei looked at them all, wondering what he should do. He didn't usually stay over at anyone's house, let alone a merman's. But he couldn't go back home, either. What was he to do?

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own anything here.

Chapter 3

Rei stood outside of the quaint looking house. "Are you coming in or not?" Haru said, as he unlocked and opened the front door. All four boys had walked home together, with Nagisa and Makoto going their seperate ways, and leaving him alone with Haru. "Well? Are you just going to leave me standing here for the rest of the night?" Haru said, his eyes flashing with frustration. Rei hurried into the small foyer, where he took off his shoes.

He hesitantly stepped inside, and looked around at the interior in surprise. This was not the place he expected a merman to live. The place looked normal. Cozy, even. The door was shut behind him with a loud bang, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. Taking off his shoes, Haru pushed past him, and made his way into the kitchen. "Are you hungry? There's leftover takeout in the fridge. Or there's canned beef in the kitchen pantry. Don't touch the canned mackerel, though. That's mine." Haru said, before he turned on the tv, and sat down on the sofa, leaving Rei to make his own dinner.

Rei opened the fridge, and looked at the takeout. It was noodles, and Rei took one look inside the takout container and wrinkled his nose. It had a strange color. And was that...mold? He took a sniff, and coughed. It reeked. Haru looked up from the sofa. "Is something wrong?" He asked, in a monotone voice. "Yeah, your takeout. How long has it been in here?" He asked. "Dunno. About 3 months." Replied Haru, with a simple shrug of his shoulders.

"3 months!?" Rei's jaw nearly hit the ground. "That's not food, that's a science project!" He said, and immediately dumped the disgusting takeout containers into the bin which was under the counter. He then went to the pantry and got a tin of canned meat, and opened it. He looked for plates, but there weren't any. "Talk about only the basics." Rei mumbled, as he got a fork from a drawer. "I'm on my own here, so there's really no need for luxuries." Haru said, as Rei begin to eat.

"Plates aren't luxuries, they're a necessity. At least, they are to humans." He said, which caused Haru to sigh in annoyance, and turn the tv off. "Well, I'm not a human so that doesn't really apply to me, does it?" Haru said, before he got up from the sofa, and stomped off down the hallway. "Where are you going?" Rei called out, as he wolfed down the rest of the canned meat. He put the fork in the sink and the can into the bin, and followed Haru.

He found the other boy in a bedroom, taking off his clothes. He didn't know why, but he was transfixed on Haru's sleek, lithe body. Haru looked up, and frowned. "Do you always openly stare at others like that?" Haru asked, which caused Rei to look away, blushing a little. "Uh...where do I sleep?" Rei asked, eager to change the conversation. "Across the hall, there's a spare room you can take." Was Haru's reply. Rei went to ask something else, when the door was slammed shut, almost catching him on the nose.

"Jesus!" Rei huffed, and shuffled to where Haru had directed him. He opened the door, and walked inside. A small bed was by the window. "At least it's clean." He mumbled, and pulled back the covers. He got in, and stared out the window. The window was covered by a transparent curtain, so he could clearly see the moon as it shone in the night sky. It didn't take Rei long, before he was fast asleep.

It was dawn when Rei cracked open an eye, and shuffled half-asleep, out of bed. He could feel nature calling, and needed to find a toilet fast. He went into the hallway, and still sleepy, he found the bathroom and hurried over to the toilet. Yawning, he unbuttoned his pants and pushed them down, and started to pee.

"Sleep well?" A voice to the side made him jump. He looked to his left and saw merman Haru, laying in a bathtub. His tail was bigger than the bathtub, and the tail fins draped over the edge of the bath. Rei almost screamed like a girl. He would take a while to get used to the fact that merfolk were real. Haru looked down at Rei's crotch, causing Rei to blush like crazy. "Wh...What are you staring at?" Rei said, very self-conscious at how Haru was staring at him.

"You peed on the seat."

TBC


End file.
